Emergent superconductivity in van der Waals Kagome material Pd3P2S8 under high pressure

TL;DR

This study reports the discovery of pressure-induced superconductivity in the van der Waals Kagome material Pd3P2S8, with Tc reaching 6.83 K at high pressure, linked to structural changes and amorphization.

Contribution

It reveals that high pressure induces superconductivity in Pd3P2S8 through structural instability and amorphization, a novel finding in Kagome van der Waals materials.

Findings

Superconductivity appears at high pressure where resistivity shifts to metallic behavior.

Tc increases with pressure, reaching 6.83 K at 79.5 GPa.

Superconductivity is associated with amorphous phase formation due to structural instability.

Abstract

Kagome lattice systems have been proposed to host rich physics, which provide an excellent platform to explore unusual quantum states. Here, we report on the discovery of superconductivity in van der Waals material Pd3P2S8 under pressure. The superconductivity is observed in Pd3P2S8 for those pressures where the temperature dependence of the resistivity changes from a semiconducting-like behavior to that of a normal metal. The superconducting transition temperature Tc increases with applied pressure and reaches ~ 6.83 K at 79.5 GPa. Combining high-pressure XRD, Raman spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, our results demonstrate that the observed superconductivity induced by high pressure in Pd3P2S8 is closely related to the formation of amorphous phase, which results from the structural instability due to the enhanced coupling between interlayer Pd and S atoms upon compression.